Maine GOP chairman gets threatening voice mail

AUGUSTA, Maine – Police were called to the Maine Republican Party headquarters to investigate a threatening message that was discovered Wednesday morning.

The voice-mail message directly threatened Charlie Webster of Farmington, the party’s chairman, said GOP Executive Director Christie-Lee McNally. It arrived on the same day legislative officers ordered a review of State House security.

According to McNally, the message said: “A 9 mm might not be able to silence Charlie, but a .50-caliber will. And there’s a lot of angry people out there, so Charlie Webster should be very careful.”

Webster, who was not in the office Wednesday, said he wasn’t taking the threat too seriously. He attributed it to someone who’s likely unhappy with change in Augusta – a new Republican governor and GOP majorities in the Legislature.

Story continues below advertisement.

“What are you going to do? You can’t live your life like that, worried about this stuff,” he said. “You always have to be concerned about anything, but frankly, as we change state government, there are some people who aren’t going to like it and are looking to blame somebody.”

Augusta police Lt. Kevin Lully had few details. A report on the incident was not available Wednesday afternoon as police dealt with accidents caused by the latest winter storm.

McNally said police told the office staff to have the phone company track the source of the call.

“If we can pinpoint the number, then they will go speak to the individual,” she said.

The voice mail, and a derisive and disrespectful note that was found taped to the GOP office Monday, have made some staffers a bit uneasy.

“We get tons of (negative) e-mails, we get tons of calls, but the fact that they’ve now come to the door and then there’s this direct threat,” McNally said. “To me, it’s a little disconcerting.”